Worried you got a bit carried away with the Christmas decorations this year?

Spare a thought for Gerald Brown, who spent more than a month creating this blinding lights display at his home in Catherine Gardens, Hounslow.

The 43-year-old crane driver has been adding to the amazing illuminations, which include an inflatable Santa and a nine-foot-wide Merry Christmas sign, every year since they first went up in 2002.

"I started with a couple of decorations in the garden and it's reallygrown out of control," he said. "I started putting the lights up at the end of October this year but I still can't resist buying new ornaments."

Gerald now has so many festive bulbs he has run out of electric sockets, and the display added a whopping £120 to his electricity bill last year - before energy prices soared.

However, that pales in comparison with the £515 he raised for the Shooting Star Children's Hospice in Hampton last year - a total he hopes to beat this time.

Gerald, who dresses as an elf and hands out small presents to children each year, borrowed a crane from his bosses at Heathrow firm KCS to help put up the lights.

To donate to Gerald's appeal, visit his home and add to his collection box